Summary

On February 13, 2003, a 24-year-old Hispanic painter (the victim) was
electrocuted when the metal ladder he was repositioning contacted an overhead
powerline. The victim and his co-workers were painting several two-story
townhouses. The victim attempted to reposition the 28-foot-aluminum extension
ladder he was using. Several seconds later, the foreman heard a buzzing
sound and observed the victim gripping his ladder before falling to the
ground. The co-workers ran to help the victim while the foreman called
911. The employees performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the
victim, who had no pulse and was not breathing. Emergency Medical Services
(EMS) and police personnel responded within 5 minutes. EMS personnel continued
CPR on the victim while transporting him to the local hospital. The victim
was pronounced dead in the hospital emergency room.

NIOSH investigators concluded that, to help prevent similar occurrences,
employers should

eliminate the use of conductive ladders in proximity to
energized overhead powerlines

conduct a jobsite survey during the planning phases of
any construction to identify potential hazards, and to develop and implement
appropriate control measures for these hazards

develop, implement and enforce a comprehensive safety
and training program in language(s) and literacy level(s) of workers,
which includes training in hazard recognition and the avoidance of unsafe
conditions

Additionally, general contractors should

ensure through contract language that all subcontractors
implement appropriate safety and health programs and training specific
to the work to be performed

Additionally, ladder manufacturers should

consider affixing dual language labels with graphics
to provide hazard warnings and instructions for safe use of equipment

Introduction

On February 13, 2003, a 24-year-old Hispanic painter (the victim) was
electrocuted when the metal ladder he was repositioning contacted an overhead
powerline. On February 20, 2003, officials of the North Carolina Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (NCOSHA) notified the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Division of Safety Research
(DSR), of the incident. On June 18, 2003, a DSR safety and occupational
health specialist and a senior investigator conducted an investigation
of the incident and reviewed incident circumstances with the NCOSHA compliance
officer assigned to the case. Photographs of the incident site and the
ladder taken by NCOSHA shortly after the incident were reviewed. No site
visit was conducted because the project had been completed. The victim’s
employer was interviewed by telephone. The medical examiner’s and
county police reports were viewed. The official cause of death was obtained
from the medical examiner report.

Employer. The victim’s employer was a painting subcontractor
that had been in business for approximately 19 years. The company employed
14 full-time workers, all of whom were working at the jobsite when the
incident occurred. All of the employees except the foreman and one other
employee were Hispanic. All of the Hispanic employees spoke Spanish. During
the witness interviews with the Hispanic coworkers, the NCOSHA compliance
officer used an interpreter. The foreman had worked for the employer for
8 years and spoke primarily English; however, he could speak a few words
in Spanish. The incident occurred 4½ hours into the first work
day with this general contractor. This was the company’s first workplace
fatality.

Victim. The 24-year-old male victim had moved from El Salvador
to the United States approximately 4 years before the incident and had
been working for the company as a painter for 1½ years. The victim’s
primary language was Spanish.

Training. The company had no comprehensive written safety program.
On-the-job safety training was provided on an as-needed basis by the foreman
or the owner to help increase the employees’ awareness of potential
work site hazards. This safety training was conducted in English and was
not documented by the company. The victim had no training beyond on-the-job
task training.

Incident Scene. The employer was subcontracted to paint the exterior
of the two-story townhouses that were under construction and unoccupied.
The townhouses were brick with wood shingle exterior siding. A three-phase
24-Kilovolta, overhead powerline was located
approximately 21 feet above the ground level at the site. In addition,
there were also three lower telecommunication lines underneath the powerlines.
The powerlines and the telecommunication lines were approximately 16 feet
from the front of the townhouses (Photo1).

Ladder. The victim was using an 28-foot aluminum, two-section,
Type II-Medium Duty/Commercial use ladder at the time of the incident.
During the incident, the ladder was extended approximately 26-feet when
it made contact with the powerline. The labels on the ladder were written
in English and consisted of the manufacturer’s name and use specifications.

Weather. It was daylight at the time of the incident, with sunny
and clear conditions and the temperature was in the 40’s

Investigation

The incident occurred at a five unit, two-story townhouse complex under
construction. According to the subcontractor, his company had been contracted
to perform painting work on the townhouses. The crew of 13 workers and
the foreman were assigned to paint the exterior of the townhomes. They
arrived on site at approximately 8:00 a.m. on the day of the incident.
Once on the site, the employees began unloading ladders from trucks and
racks from the top of several vans. While placing the ladders at various
locations around the structure, the foreman told everyone in English to
be careful of the overhead powerlines. After positioning approximately
ten ladders on the site, the employees divided up and began preparing
the structure to be painted and unloading paint.

At approximately 10:00 a.m. the general contractor met on the site with
a representative from the power company. The purpose of the meeting was
to discuss the location of permanent power to each individual unit. The
general contractor also suggested that the power lines should be relocated,
due to the close proximity to the residents’ balconies, and that
he had concerns about the workers having to be positioned so close to
the powerlines to do the painting. According to the general contractor,
the power company representative acknowledged his concerns and told him
that he needed to keep the workers a safe distance away from the powerlines.
After meeting with the power company representative, the general contractor
went over to the painters, pointed to the overhead powerlines and shook
his head in a negative response, while telling them that lines were very
“hot.” At approximately 11:15 a.m., the general contractor
left the job site.

At approximately 12:30 p.m., the victim carried a two-section, 28-foot-aluminum
extension ladder that had been extended approximately 26 feet and positioned
it on the front of the structure. At the time of the incident, there were
two other ladders near the victim, one which was unattended and the other
which was being used by the foreman. The ladder being used by the foreman
was approximately 30 feet away from the ladder being used by the victim.
The victim decided to reposition his ladder by picking it up and stepping
around the base of the unattended ladder. While holding his ladder, he
stepped back and the top of the ladder contacted the overhead powerline.

After hearing a buzzing noise, the foreman looked over and observed the
victim in a frozen position gripping his ladder while his hands were shaking.
The ladder fell towards the structure and the victim fell to the ground
face down. The co-workers ran over to the victim and rolled him over.
He had no pulse and was not breathing. The co-workers began cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (CPR), while the foreman called 911 on his mobile telephone.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and police personnel responded within
5 minutes. According to the police, the victim had burns marks on both
of his hands and on his right foot. At 12:41 p.m., the victim was transported
in a medic unit to the local hospital. EMS personnel continued performing
CPR during the transport. At 1:03 p.m., the victim was pronounced dead
in the hospital emergency room. The police interviewed the Hispanic workers
through an interpreter following the incident.

According to the victim’s employer, after the incident, his company
purchased several fiberglass ladders for his employees to use when they
work near overhead powelines. The employer has also begun Spanish language
lessons, and is working on developing a bilingual written safety program,
and is in the process of providing employee training in Spanish.

Cause of Death

The medical examiner’s report indicated that the cause of death
was high voltage electrocution.

Recommendations/Discussion

Recommendation #1: Employers should eliminate
the use of conductive ladders in proximity to energized overhead powerlines.
1,2

Discussion: Energized overhead powerlines in proximity to a work area
constitute a significant safety hazard. Extra caution must be exercised
when working near energized powerlines. Metal ladders should not be used
for electrical work or where a possibility of contact with electrical
conductors exists. Ladders made of non-conductive materials, such as fiberglass,
should be substituted for work near energized electrical conductors. The
powerlines in this incident were approximately 16 feet from the front
of the structure.

Recommendation #2. Employers should conduct a jobsite survey
during the planning phases of any construction project to identify potential
hazards and to develop and implement appropriate control measures for these
hazards.3

Discussion: Before beginning work at any site, a competent personb
should evaluate the site to identify any potential hazards and ensure
appropriate control measures are implemented. The jobsite had an identifiable
hazard, i.e., a three-phase 24-Kilovolt overhead powerline in close proximity
to the structure where the painting was to be performed. A safe distance
between powerlines and ladders, tools, and work materials should be maintained
at all times. In this incident, control measures may have included using
non-conductive ladders made of fiberglass, or alternatively, a mobile
platform. A mobile platform can be lowered and may have provided a more
efficient and less hazardous way to maneuver near the overhead powerline
that was present on the jobsite. Once hazards are identified, appropriate
control measures should be incorporated prior to the work begins and remain
in place until the job is completed.

Recommendation #3: Employers should develop, implement and
enforce a comprehensive safety and training program in language(s) and
literacy level(s) of workers, which includes training in hazard recognition
and the avoidance of unsafe conditions.4

Discussion: A comprehensive safety and training program should identify
required safety training (e.g., working around electricity and overhead
powerlines, work site and ladder safety). Overcoming language and literacy
barriers is crucial to providing a safe work environment for a multilingual
workforce. Companies that employ workers who do not understand English
should identify the languages spoken by their employees, and design, implement,
and enforce a multilingual safety program. The safety program and training
should be developed at a literacy level that corresponds with the literacy
level appropriate for the company’s workforce.

Employers should ensure that employees who do not speak English or have
limited use of English are afforded an interpreter who can clearly convey
instructions, and ensure that employees clearly understand the instructions
given. The program, in addition to being multilingual, should include
a competent interpreter to explain worker rights to protection in the
workplace, safe work practices workers are expected to adhere to, specific
safety protection for all tasks performed, ways to identify and avoid
hazards, and who they should contact when safety and health issues or
questions arise. A method to ensure comprehension could be to provide
testing to ensure that the information conveyed was understood.

Additionally,

General contractors should ensure through contract language
that all subcontractors implement appropriate safety and health programs
and training specific to the work to be performed.

Discussion: General contractors should ensure that all subcontractors
have safety and health training programs in place that address the tasks
their workers are assigned to perform through contract language that requires
all subcontractors to identify how they intend to implement a site-specific
safety and health program before the initiation of work. The subcontractors’
contract should contain clear and concise language describing which party
is responsible for a given safety or health issue. Any differences should
be negotiated before work begins. Once the provision for these responsibilities
has been established, the respective parties should ensure that the provisions
of the contract regarding safety and heath are upheld through regular
inspections of the work site

Additionally,

Ladder manufacturers should consider affixing dual language
labels with graphics to provide hazard warnings and instructions for safe
use of equipment.5-8

Discussion: Over the past several years, the United States has seen a
dramatic increase in its population of Hispanic, Spanish-speaking citizens
who are entering the work force. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated
15.4 million employed Hispanics in 2000, making up 10.9% of the U.S. workforce.
The Hispanic workforce increased 43% between 1990 and 2000, and is expected
to increase another 36% by 2010 to nearly 21 million employed Hispanic
workers.

Having employees who speak limited or no English presents unique challenges.
It is important for Spanish-speaking employees to be able to interpret
instruction and warning labels on work equipment such as ladders. While
some equipment is bought or shipped with manufacturers’ documentation
in at least one language other than English, many instruction and warning
labels on the equipment are only in English (Photo 2).
A dual language label with a graphic or picture label could offer an additional
warning to workers of potential hazards.

b Competent person is one who is capable of identifying
existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions
which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has
the authority to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them.